Valentine
by andiessmintss
Summary: Hitoshi's a little, no, a lot, smitten with a certain green-haired boy, and Valentine's Day is quickly approaching. What will he do to win Izuku's heart?


Hitoshi was nervous. Wait, no, scratch that, Hitoshi was downright terrified. It was only four days until Valentine's day, and he still hadn't gotten a gift for Midoriya. It's not like he had to give him a big gift, they were just friends after all.

But that was the issue. They were just friends. Hitoshi, well, he didn't want that. He wanted to be more, he wanted to be able to say that Midoriya was his boyfriend. Thing was, he had no clue how he was supposed to get there. There as in confessing and somehow getting the boy of his dreams to feel the same.

Kaminari told him that Izuku felt the same, no doubt about it. He said that Midoriya was sending back all the signs, that he was 'totally into him!', and while Hitoshi doubted it, it was worth a shot regardless. Either his feelings were requited and was in a relationship with him or he'd get rejected and Midoriya would hate him and never talk to him again. Well, Midoriya wouldn't do that, but it was still in the back of Hitoshi's mind.

Hitoshi had consulted Uraraka for help with getting him a gift. When he approached her, he was nervous as to what she might say and whether or not to ask. In Hitoshi's opinion, it would be awkward for someone to ask you for gift ideas for your ex-boyfriend. Luckily, she had no problem with it and told him that he should make him something 'from the heart'. Hitoshi didn't really know what that meant, but luckily he found the perfect gift idea.

The only issue was that he'd need help getting it.

Hitoshi took a deep breath in and settled his nerves to walk up to Iida, Todoroki, Uraraka, and Asui. The tap-tap-tap of his sneakers on the cement helped him to calm down and he used the repetitive sound as something to latch onto.

"Oh, hey Shinsou! You need somethin'?" Uraraka spun on her heel to greet him, somehow knowing it was Hitoshi before seeing him. Hitoshi nodded and rubbed his neck before clearing his throat.

"Uh, yeah. I… need a favor," he said and Iida immediately stood straight (or, well, straighter than he had been), his arms doing that odd 90 degree angle that must be painful.

"Of course! As class rep, it is my duty to help any student out that is in need! Do you need help with training or classwork?" He did that strange movement where he karate chopped the air and his arms went back to their normal position. Well, normal for Iida, anyway. Hitoshi never really got used to it.

"So… uh… it's not any of that, not really. I need to uhm, get Midoriya a gift, for valentine's day." Hitoshi didn't look up, his gaze firmly planted on his sneakers. All that he heard for a short second was the blood rushing in his ears. Would they not approve? Would they sabotage him, thinking it was for the best for Izuku?

"Kero. About time, really."

"Yeah. We were waiting for you to ask."

"Mhm! We'd love to help ya!"

Hitoshi's head snapped back up, eyes wide and mouth slightly agape. With the tension in his jaw gone, he found it easier to speak than before. Todoroki and Asui were staring at him with that oddly flat stare that the pair shared. Uraraka was bouncing on her toes, her arms tucked behind her back and a smile on her face. It was oddly sad, but Hitoshi paid it no mind.

"Wait, really?" The nods from around him told him as much. Not that Hitoshi doubted it, if they didn't mean it they wouldn't have said it. Regardless, that little inkling of doubt in his heart stayed. Seeing movement out of the corner of his eye, Hitoshi turned his head to see the boy they were talking about coming their way. He was waving, quickly jogging up to join them.

"Uh, I'll text it to you guys later, alright?" Seeing their nods, he tried to leave, but was quickly swept up into a conversation with Izuku and everyone else before he could make his escape. Hitoshi felt a smile tug at his lips as everyone laughed around him and exchanged pleasantries. This was nice.

-o0o-

One impromptu lunch and the formation of a group chat later, step one was finally in action. Now it was time for step two.

Hitoshi stepped into the grocery store, armed with his wallet and a warm band hoodie. The store was covered in pink and red, the candy and stuffy aisles almost highlighted with the concentration of lights and decoration. Naturally, he followed the arrows pointing towards them. Scratching his cheek, Hitoshi picked up a square box of chocolates right before groaning and setting them back down.

"1200 yen for a small box of chocolates? Only rich people can afford this stuff. Prolly only half the amount it looks in there, too," Hitoshi murmured, shooting a glare at the box of chocolates. Off to find cheaper ones, he supposed.

An excruciating two-and-a-half hours later and Hitoshi had an empty wallet and a bag of groceries. All that he had was the first box of chocolates he looked at, a stuffed black cat, and ingredients for a bento box. Hopefully Izuku would like it. All that Hitoshi could afford was nishiki rice, nori, red onion, salmon, and soy sauce, the usual ingredients for sushi. Not the best sushi in the world, but it was the best he could do.

The moment Hitoshi got into his dorm room and put the groceries in his mini fridge and on his desk, he collapsed onto his bed. Time to sleep off all this 'excitement'.

-o0o-

Hitoshi woke up to a light chirp, the one he assigned to the group chat for him and Izuku's friends. Opening up his phone, he saw it was 22:33, around four hours after he fell asleep. He must've forgotten to set an alarm. Thumbing through his recent notifications -Another Noumu factory was found?- Hitoshi found the text message.

urararararaka: got watcha asked for!!! see hatsume tmrw, shell help w print :D

help: thanks.

Rolling over in bed, Hitoshi stared at the wall. Sleep wouldn't be coming after being awoken, it seemed. Maybe Hatsume was awake? She probably was, though Hitoshi doubted the print lab was open at this hour. Sighing, Hitoshi prepared himself for his brain to launch every single embarrassing thing in his life at him at once. Could tomorrow come any sooner?

-o0o-

Hitoshi didn't sleep much. Not that this was unusual, but it was unpleasant regardless. Slowly making his way to class, he felt eyes on him and he tensed. Turning his head around, he saw the partial source of his lack of sleep, Izuku. The boy was jogging up to him, waving his hand high above his head before skidding to a stop next to Hitoshi.

"Heya, Shinsou-kun! How's it going?" Giving a non-commital grunt, Hitoshi shrugged his shoulders. Izuku's laugh burst through the air, making a smile tug at the corner of his lips.

"Yeah, same here. I had to chug basically a whole pot of coffee to get up this morning! Someone must've been thinking about me last night, I could barely sleep." Hitoshi felt a blush rising up his neck and tried his hardest to push it down. He wasn't one to believe in superstitions, and more likely than not it was simply a coincidence, but regardless.

Keeping up the small talk, Hitoshi couldn't help but feel a sense of longing. He felt the strange urge to grab Izuku's hand, but that would be unwarranted and it wasn't like they were dating. 'Yet.' his mind supplied before he shook it off. Regardless of whether Izuku reciprocated his feelings or not, he would know in two days anyways.

-o0o-

Walking into the school's workshop, Hitoshi tensed in preparation for an explosion. There was a strange ticking noise coming from a device that Hatsume was grinning at, which couldn't be good. Luckily, the ticking stopped when she hit it.

"Uh… hey, Hatsume." Hitoshi awkwardly waved, his hand stuffed into the bright orange hoodie he had on. The girl whirled around, the tools and trinkets on her belt clinking together. She was, as always, covered in oil and other mysterious substances.

"Heya, Shinsou! I got what ya needed, do ya need help printing it?" Hatsume practically shouted, suddenly coming up to be nose to nose with Hitoshi. If he didn't already know her quirk he'd say that it was speed.

"Uh, yeah-"

"Great! Follow me, I'll get that all taken care of!" She grabbed Hitoshi's wrist in an iron grip and dragged him out of the workshop, through the halls, and into the print lab. There were high-tech computers and 3D printers organized neatly through it, a couple of students working with them. One of them, a black-haired boy, rolled his eyes and groaned when he saw Hatsume.

"Mei, exactly what are you doing here? Couldn't find enough shit to blow up in the workshop?" The boy sneered, balancing his arm on the back of the chair.

"Nope," She cheerily exclaimed, pushing Hitoshi into a chair in front of a computer. "Just teachin' this guy here how to 3D print! He wants to make somethin' for someone he's gotta crush on." Hitoshi felt a blush crawl up his face at the blatant disregard for his personal life but decided not to refute her. She'd just make fun of him or something.

"Huh. Well, you suck at this, so move over." He rudely shoved Mei over, who knocked him on the head with a wrench that she pulled out of her toolbelt. At first Hitoshi thought he was just an asshole but they seem to be… well, not friends, but not enemies. Rivals, maybe? He began typing fervently, pulling up seemingly random applications.

"Oh yeah, I'm Shishi Fuja, at your service, I guess. What's the name of the document you need to print?" Hitoshi blanked, having no clue. He gave Hatsume a pleading look, to which she laughed at and knocked him on the head with her wrench.

"It's lovebirds-dot-vrml! That's the only thing I could come up with, this is mega sappy after all." Rubbing his head, Hitoshi watched as Shishi worked his magic and pulled up the file. A scan of Midoriya in his hero uniform with one arm in the air and the other hand on his hip showed up.

"Huh. This the guy you like?" Shishito made idle conversation as he did… something with the controls on the computer. Hitoshi could hardly track how fast his machine-like fingers were going on the keyboard. Hearing a click behind him, Hitoshi turned as he nodded to see the 3D printer booting up.

"Alright, now just wait about an hour and it should be done. Now get out of here before Hatsume blows anything up," Shishi ordered, shooing them out the door and shutting it behind them with a bang. Hatsume slumped her back and pouted beside him, wrench still in her hand.

"He's such a jerk, kicking us out like that!" She straightened back up immediately, pumping her fist in the air. "But that's not an issue! Come back in an hour, get your figurine, I've got babies to make!" And there she went, running off to her workshop in a flash.

Well, now he had an hour to kill and nothing to do.

-o0o-

Pulling out his chair and sitting down, Hitoshi eyed the candies, bento, and plush he placed on Midoriya's desk. It was around 7:30, and the only other person in the classroom was Iida.

As more people filtered into the classroom and began exchanging candies and gifts, Hitoshi's mind began wandering. Would Midoriya not like it? What if he didn't think of Hitoshi in a romantic light? He probably didn't. He'd probably-

A squeal tore through the classroom as Midoriya and Ashido skidded into the classroom, one minute before the tardy bell rang. Ashido was bouncing on her toes, pointing at Midoriya's desk.

"Midori! You got some gifts!" Midoriya slowly made his way to the desk, wary in a hopeful way of the gifts. He picked up the plush and grinned, displacing the note that Hitoshi placed underneath it. He picked it up and began reading as he sat down.

"Sooo, what did it say? Who's it from?" Ashido leaned over his shoulder to read the note and Hitoshi's heart rate spiked. Would she read it? Would Midoriya let her? Hopefully not. While it didn't hold much, not even his name, he didn't want her to use her creepy stalker skills to find who wrote it.

Midoriya lightly batted away her outstretched hand and closed the note, placing it in his pocket. Hitoshi breathed a sigh, shoulders slumping in relief. She was a monster when it came to figuring out what could be gossip.

"Sorry Ashido, but they didn't put their name. Guess we'll have to wait and see," Midoriya said, placing the sushi and plushie on top of the box of chocolates just as Aizawa came in.

Time to wait another excruciating 10 hours.

-o0o-

Hitoshi was becoming tired of waiting for Midoriya to show up. He was leaning against the brick on the back of the school, watching the tree branches sway slowly in the wind. Did he just… decide not to arrive? He should have considered this. It was an anonymous note, after all. He just expected better. He expected Midoriya to at least try and show up to let him down.

Hitoshi felt a pit of frustration bubble up in his gut. He worked so hard to set this up! He knows that he shouldn't be this upset, but he can't help it. He is upset. Hitoshi went to swing his arm backwards and scraped it against the wall.

"Fuck," He hissed, holding his arm and rubbing the peeled skin. "Today just ain't going right for me…"

But then Hitoshi heard the crunch of feet on dried grass approaching quickly and swiveled his head towards the side. He picked up the bag with the figurine in hopes that it was Midoriya arriving.

He could see the shadow, he was about to turn the corner. Hitoshi's grip on the bag became so tight that it was painful.

Midoriya turned the corner, a hand on the brick with the setting sun to his back. His eyes widened to the size of saucers when he saw Hitoshi. He fucked up, Midoriya didn't like him, he was going to reject him, undoubtedly. He shouldn't have told Midoriya to meet him in the note, he should have simply left it anonymous.

"Shinsou-kun?" Midoriya took a hesitant step forward, gnawing on his lip as he stared at Hitoshi. He didn't say anything, even after Hitoshi nodded. Hitoshi's hand flew to his neck as his thoughts began going wild.

"Yeah. Uh… surprise. Hope you weren't disappointed," Hitoshi murmured, looking down because he couldn't bring himself to look at Midoriya any longer. He watched his shadow out of the corner of his eye and heard him move closer. He felt his nails break the skin on his palm.

"Of course I wasn't! I was just… surprised." This is it. Here comes the rejection. He'll never want to talk to Hitoshi again, not that he would even be able to make eye contact with Midoriya afterwards. A hand landed on his shoulder a few seconds later, almost feather light.

"Hey, look at me. What's wrong?" Hitoshi glanced up and then straight back down. He could feel himself shrinking in, curling slightly. Midoriya's concerned face was too much for him. He didn't want to know what he would look like when he rejected him. He saw Midoriya's hand move from his shoulder to his chin to make Hitoshi face him.

"Hey. I said look at me. What's going on?" Hitoshi felt like Midoriya was staring straight into his soul, peeling away each wall he built up. He felt a pressure build behind his eyes and a knot in his throat begin to swell. Fuck, fuck, no, not now. He can't cry in front of anyone, let alone Midoriya. Especially not over something as stupid as a rejection that, while bound to happen, hasn't happened yet.

He couldn't hold back the whimper that left his throat, and Midoriya's expression quickly morphed from a stubborn concern to panic. He let go of Hitoshi, only to pull him into a comforting hug that somehow took his breath away. He could feel the dam holding in his tears crack, about to burst from all the pressure.

"Hey, shh, it's alright. Go ahead and cry, it's fine." And with that, a strangled cry left his lips and Hitoshi tucked his head into the crook of Midoriya's neck. He dropped the bag with Midoriya's figurine somewhere in the tears as he sunk to the ground, incidentally pulling the other boy with him.

Shaking with sobs, Hitoshi felt both suffocated and comforted in Midoriya's arms. He felt horrible, almost like he's guilting Midoriya into comforting him. If Midoriya accepted his feelings, it would probably be out of pity. He wants Midoriya to be honest, but he has a bleeding heart. He would feel too bad to reject Hitoshi at this point.

Reduced to sniffles, he felt Midoriya lightly push at his chest. He slipped off of Midoriya's lap (when did that happen?) and rubbed at his eyes. He truly was pitiful in every regard. Midoriya grasped Hitoshi's limp hand in his own, carefully avoiding the crescent-shaped cuts on it.

"Hey," Midoriya murmured, smiling lightly. His entire body was tense, like he was waiting for something. Hitoshi couldn't bring himself to respond. He saw the fallen bag beside him and grabbed it, pulling his hand out of Midoriya's.

"Uh… I know, I know you don't feel the same, but I, I made this for you." Hitoshi pushed the bag into Midoriya's chest, looking away immediately after. He could hear the crinkle of the paper bag being moved and then a sharp gasp. Hitoshi chanced a look at Midoriya's face and saw the boy's eyes welling with tears, sending a spike of panic through his heart.

"Wait, wait, don't cry! Did I, did I do something wrong? Do you not like it?" Midoriya's eyes snapped up from the packaging Hitoshi made for the figurine.

It had clear lamination on the front to showcase the figure, the rest of the box green, white, and black. The bold words 'Pro Hero: Deku!' were underneath the figure, a picture of the figure on the side.

Midoriya frantically shook his head, wiping at his eyes as he grinned.

"No! Of course not, I, I love it," Midoriya exclaimed, throwing his arms around Hitoshi's neck. "Thank you, Shinsou-kun."

Hitoshi didn't know what to do. This was the second time today, no, in the past 5 minutes, that Midoriya hugged him, but the first time didn't really count because he was crying. But now it wasn't out of some moral obligation. He was genuinely grateful.

Midoriya let go of Hitoshi, sliding his hands down to hold Hitoshi's in his own. He looked up, brows furrowed as he tried to see what Midoriya was thinking. His head was tilted down, though.

"Shinsou, do you," Midoriya huffed a laugh, but it was more sad than happy. "Do you really think I don't like you? As in, romantically?" Hitoshi went still as a statue, his entire body locking up. Was he trying to say- no, he couldn't, there's no way, but-

"I mean, not to be rude, and I know that I'm horrible at it, but I've been flirting with you for like, half a year!" Midoriya exclaimed, his grip tightening. "Are you… did you never notice?" Midoriya slumped like a kicked puppy, but Hitoshi was practically on another planet.

Midoriya liked him? On top of that, he'd been flirting and Hitoshi never even notice. He felt ecstatic, but also... disappointed. Disappointed in himself for never noticing. He'd left Midoriya thinking that he didn't like him, maybe even more than that.

"I… really?" Midoriya nodded, gnawing on his lip. His fringe covered his eyes so that Hitoshi couldn't see his expression. He simply hummed in response.

"I, uh, I'm sorry… I guess I'm just super dense." Hitoshi barked a bitter laugh at the end. Midoriya looked up, moving his hands so that he could intertwine their fingers. He looked remorseful.

"Don't say that. I blew up on you, it's my bad. And honestly, I'm the same so if you tried to flirt with me, I wouldn't notice." Midoriya released one of his hands to extend it in Hitoshi's direction. "Thank you for the gift. Sorry I blew up. Are we good now?"

"Yeah." Hitoshi let go of Midoriya's other hand to shake it and grinned. Waiting a few seconds in silence, the pair suddenly burst out laughing.

"Holy fuck, that was super awkward! Gimme, gimme a second…" Hitoshi wheezed, bending over from laughing. He didn't know why it was funny, it just… was. Midoriya flat out collapsed onto the ground on his side, silently laughing. Hitoshi followed suit soon after, falling onto the dry grass next to him.

Calming down from laughter a minute later, Midoriya moved to tuck his arm under his head. He smiled, eyes shining even in the dark of night. Hitoshi hadn't even realized that night had fallen until he saw the lights from the path lanterns reflecting in Midoriya's eyes.

"So… what does this make us?" He murmured, free hand settling in Hitoshi's hair. He carded his fingers through it as Hitoshi hummed.

"Well… I was hoping that maybe," Hitoshi took a deep breath in, placing his hand on top of Midoriya's. "I could call you my boyfriend?" Hitoshi waited with bated breath for Midoriya's response. Even if he said that he liked him, that didn't mean that he was ready to actually date Hitoshi.

Midoriya grinned, pushing up the corners of his eyes. The light hit him in just the right way, silhouetting his figure in an artificial orange glow.

"Yeah. I'd love that."


End file.
